BeerAdvocate Top 250

As a fan of spreadsheets, I’ve analyzed the top 250 beers as established by BeerAdvocate. There are some interesting trends in the data that are highlighted below. While some of these beers are extremely rare and difficult to attain, there are others that require just a bit of digging. It’s yet another list I’m looking forward to working my way through. So far I’ve been to 44 of the 98 breweries on the list, but I’ve only had 30 of the 250 beers.

Keep in mind this is an ever changing list based on user reviews, so this is a snapshot as of Nov 19, 2015.

Hill Farmstead’s dominance is crazy – maybe a bit too crazy. In any case, they are high on my must-visit list.

Head to the west coast for the highest concentration of breweries making top beers. If you’re in the northeast, you can knock off 40 beers between just three breweries in Vermont and Massachusetts – Hill Farmstead, Trillium and Tree House

High ABV beers are clearly popular, there are 15 on the list above 15% ABV! I am a bit surprised at how over-represented imperial stouts are. No surprise IPA and IIPA make up 30% of the beers.

Mostly big names on this list except The Alchemist. Impressively, with it’s tiny distribution, it has been rated more times than many beers with national distribution. (Scroll over the bars to see the full beer name.)

Here’s the full list of beers, you can also download the entire file via the link.

Published in West Coaster magazine - a 20,000 edition print magazine and website serving the San Diego Craft Beer Community

From October 2013-October 2014, I road tripped to every brewery that won a medal at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival - 183 breweries in 365 days! I continue to travel the country in search of the nation's best breweries, and this site now has over 450 brewery reviews from Alaska to the Virgin Islands. Check it out, or follow the journey!